Eagles Recap | Women/Men Round 5

Featured image: @codexdesignstudio, Mark Filpo

The East Perth Eagles commemorated Anzac Day at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre on Saturday with a pair of games against the Perry Lakes Hawks with a strong win for the women and a heartbreaking loss for the men at the death.

The Eagles played host to the Hawks on Anzac Day on Saturday and Peter Campbell Arena saw two terrific contests to mark the occasion.

That saw the Eagles women respond to a first loss of the season by beating the Hawks 97-84 before the men played out a thriller only to lose to Perry Lakes 100-98 in the finish.

The Eagles will remain at home this coming Friday night for two fascinating contests against the Warwick Senators.

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WOMEN

The Eagles responded strongly to their first loss of the season to beat the Perry Lakes Hawks 97-84 on Anzac Day with Stacey Barr, Sarah Mortensen and Anzac Day Medal winner Jo Odude especially effective.

East Perth were back home to commemorate Anzac Day at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre facing a take that they hadn’t had to deal with yet in 2026 and that was responding to a loss after going down to the Joondalup Wolves the previous week.

The Eagles then did have to come from behind at quarter-time, but dominated the rest of the way to outscore Perry Lakes 78 points to 59 on the way to the 13-point victory and to improve to a 4-1 record on the season after five rounds.

There was a lot to like in the performance from the Eagles as they pulled down 22 offensive rebounds for the game and got to the foul line 32 times to 16 even if they didn’t quite take full advantage making just 21 of those.

Captain Stacey Barr had another standout all-round game for the Eagles ahead of a second game against her former team the Senators this coming Friday night.

She finished with 25 points, eight rebounds and five assists on 7/14 shooting from the field, 3/7 from downtown and 8/12 at the free-throw line.

Sarah Mortensen was playing her second game with East Perth and was more settled this week to deliver 18 points and nine rebounds with Jo Odude having a breakout performance too with 17 points and 14 rebounds to win the Anzac Medal.

Sydney Wright produced another 14 points and four assists with 2/2 three-point shooting, Brooke Malone 11 points, six rebounds and four steals, Jade Williams 10 points and five boards, and Zaya Black two points and two assists.

Bridgette Rettstatt finished with another 19 points and 18 rebounds for Perry Lakes with Mia Bailey adding 18 points and three assists, and Maddy Zugna 18 points and three rebounds.

The Eagles were attempting to bounce back from their first loss of the season the previous Friday night but it was the Hawks that had the better of the first quarter to be leading 25-19 by quarter-time.

It was a tough opening for East Perth with 6/15 shooting from the field while Perry Lakes pulled down 11 offensive rebounds on the way to take nine extra shot attempts.

East Perth responded well in the second quarter with 28 points to 15 to turn that six-point deficit into a 47-40 advantage heading into the locker room for half-time despite still conceding 13 second chance points to Perry Lakes to their own four.

That lead for the Eagles got out to 14 points in the third quarter and they ended up outscoring the Hawks 22 points to 18 to be up 69-58 by three quarter-time.

The scoring for both teams picked up in the last quarter with East Perth scoring 28 points on 9/16 shooting with 3/4 from downtown and 5/7 at the free-throw line.

Perry Lakes also added 26 points on 10/19 shooting with 3/6 from deep but still the Eagles stretched their final winning margin to 13.

MEN

The Eagles men were part of quite the dramatic Anzac Day thriller and in the end it was the new faces at the Perry Lakes Hawks that shot their team to the 100-98 win despite especially strong showings from Jonah Antonio and Nick Filpo.

East Perth were back home at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre on Anzac Day hosting a Perry Lakes team boosted by the arrival of Isaiah Moses and Jack Browder, and in the end it was the latter who hit the game winning shot right in front of the Eagles bench.

Prior to that and both Antonio and Filpo in particular had done plenty to put East Perth in a winning position including one stretch where Filpo landed a three ball, then blocked Moses up the other end and that led to a transition bucket for Antonio.

However, it wasn’t quite to be with Perry Lakes sneaking out the two-point with the Eagles' three-game winning run ending with them now 3-2 on the season after five rounds.

Jonah Antonio was tremendous all evening for the Eagles ending up with 25 points and six rebounds with 9/18 shooting from the floor and 5/9 from three-point territory.

David Okwera produced another 23 points, four rebounds and four blocks, Nick Filpo 15 points, four assists, three boards, two steals and a huge late block, Max Rice 14 points, three rebounds and two assists, and Lee Roberts 13 points, three boards and three steals.

New import big Steve Weingarten also got to the line six times for six points and two rebounds in six minutes with Ioannis Dimakopoulos adding two points, four boards and two assists.

New Perry Lakes import pair Jack Browder and Isaiah Moses had a big impact with Browder finishing with 34 points and five rebounds, and Moses 32 points, five assists and five rebounds with Cam Huefner adding 19 points and 13 boards.

The Eagles were back home for just the second time this season but the Hawks welcomed in their new import pair Jack Browder and Isaiah Moses who combined for 14 points in the first quarter to help their team to the 22-15 lead by quarter-time.

Despite nine points in the opening term from David Okwera, East Perth did only manage to shoot 5/18 from the field and 2/7 from behind the arc.

The Eagles found their groove in the second quarter and piled on 35 points on shooting 10/15 from the floor, 4/5 from long-range and 11/13 at the foul line on the way to going into the main break leading 50-49.

Jonah Antonio already had 15 points to his name by the break while going 3/4 from downtown with new import big Steve Weingarten also making a significant impact with six points all coming at the free-throw line.

Perry Lakes pushed back out to an eight-point lead again in the third quarter and then were still leading 77-74 by three quarter-time but it was a game always destined for a big finish.

With four quick points from Cam Huefner, Perry Lakes were back on top by seven early in the last quarter and they were still up five with five minutes to play before Antonio and Okwera scored to bring East Perth back within a point.

Nick Filpo then had an inspired sequence with a three-pointer up one end and then blocking Moses up the other which led to a layup from Antonio and suddenly the Eagles had all the momentum and a four-point lead with 2:30 to play.

Perry Lakes did respond with the next four points before the Eagles were back up two with a dunk from Okwera before he also made a tough layup attacking the basket to return East Perth to the lead by one after a triple from Moses.

The Hawks had the last possession and it ended up with a huge three from Browder right in front of the Eagles bench which proved the match winner with East Perth only able to get up a rushed look on the buzzer.